April Moss, the CBS weather reporter in Detroit who promised on the air Sunday that she'd produce what she says is proof of discrimination in the newsroom, is no longer employed at the station, according to a statement sent to Newsweek.
The station's statement also said that while employed there Moss complained about wearing a mask and other precautions that WWJ-TV had adopted based on recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other sources.
"April Moss objected to WWJ-TV's policies regarding COVID-19 testing and wearing masks inside our station, which are based on CDC, state and local guidelines," the statement said. "Any suggestion that she was in any way a victim of 'discrimination' due to her concerns about these policies is completely false. In fact, we allowed April to perform her weather anchor duties from home as we explored her concerns."
Moss was giving her weather report the night of the Father's Day broadcast when she paused to say that she "will be sitting down this week with Project Veritas to discuss the discrimination that CBS is enforcing on its employees" before casually concluding her forecast.
Project Veritas is run by James O'Keefe, an independent journalist embraced by most conservatives and largely ridiculed by liberals. His method of operation usually includes video footage taken by hidden cameras, and he has hinted that that will be the case when he and Moss disclose later on Tuesday the specifics of Moss's allegations against WWJ (CBS 62).
"In their response to Project Veritas' upcoming story, CBS 62 failed to address any of the major issues raised by April Moss' recordings," O'Keefe told Newsweek. "No mention of companywide efforts to push vaccinations on employees and the public. Instead, CBS aimed its focus at her personally in an effort to divert attention from the findings she presented to our organization."
Moss is the second journalist in a week to team up with Project Veritas and announce on air that they would be blowing the whistle on what they say is bias in the newsroom. Eight days ago, Ivory Hecker of KRIV-TV (Fox 26) in Houston told her audience (also while delivering news about the weather), "I am going to be releasing some recordings about what goes on behind the scenes at Fox because it applies to you, the viewers."
Those secretly recorded videos showed Hecker's bosses belittling her for posting a story where a doctor says he uses hydroxychloroquine successfully as a treatment for COVID-19. They also said they objected to stories about bitcoin because they won't "play" to a "poor African American audience."
Like Moss, Hecker is no longer employed at her station.
WWJ said, "While we respect and support our employees' freedom to have their own opinions, they are not entitled to use our station news broadcasts as a platform for sharing personal views. Ms. Moss is no longer with our station."
O'Keefe said, "We look forward to helping April tell her full story on the network's corporate culture and company practices later this evening.... The public has a right to know."
